Monday, 31 December 2012

I made this card using the wordbook section of Funky Hand Craft the Year Away CD, but I didn't want to make it as a book. Instead I stuck it to a card blank and used 3d foam to raise up the numbers. (As usual, it doesn't show so well in the photo) . I typed the sentiment and added pink adhesive gems.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

It seems ages since I made something just for fun, with no
specific purpose. Its been all Christmas cards, gifts, specific birthday cards…
Tonight I looked at some of my favourite challenge blogs for inspiration and
came up with this.

The stamp is by Paper Artsy/Inkadinkado (it says both on it)
and it’s the first time I’ve used it. I used a brush to stipple ‘Salty Ocean’
Distress Ink onto a manila tag and then stamped the image, slightly off centre
, in ‘Chipped Sapphire’. Actually the off-centre bit was a happy accident!! I
stamped again onto white card and paper pieced fragments of the image. I edged
the tag in silver pen and added eyelets. The alcohol ink background was a leftover
and I added a ribbon border.

Monday, 24 December 2012

It’s Christmas Eve and my little boy has gone off to sleep
with less messing about than usual! Just time to wish all visitors to my blog
(and especially those who are kind enough to follow me) a very happy Christmas.

While I was finishing up my Christmas –card-making my
daughter requested (with 2 days notice) a birthday card for her friend who
loves pandas.This is what I came up
with.

The photo is a public domain image and although the design
is simple, I was quite pleased to be able to meet the brief at such short
notice.

Friday, 21 December 2012

My brother’s wife’s birthday is January 2nd . She’s
a stylish woman who loves to shop, so when I saw A Day for Daisies new release
I knew I’d found the perfect image for her birthday card.

The papers are all from Christmas packs but I hope it’s a
nod to the the season without looking like a Christmas card. I added the
textSALE – to the bag. The embellishments
are Papermania and I used a sketch from Corrosive Challenges.

A Day for Daisies are a sponsor of the new Inkspirational Challenges blog , of which I’m excited to be a Design Team member. We will be
having a launch giveaway with lots of great prizes, so do come over and follow
us.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

I've kept my gift tags really simple because I'm going to have to make LOTS of them.

I covered the tags with distress inks and stamped with a snowflake stamp (a Craft Stamper freebie). Then I stamped the 'Do not open..' stamp in black. This stamp is by East of India, who I think are more of a gift company than a craft one, but they do a small range of rubber stamp sentiments which stamp beautifully. The two biggest tags are a slightly different shade to the others- that's because they were manilla luggage tags and the others were die cut from white card.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

I was busy procrasting with making the annually expected calendar for my son's grandmother when Mynette ( On a Stampage and the new Inkspirational Challenge Blog) left me a message drawing my attention to the challenge on Technique Tuesday - Faux Tile.

I used a Kanban stamp with a repeatable pattern and Vintage Photo Distress Ink on cream card. I added 3 Stampin Up brads. There's a big gap at the top as I intend to bind it with the Bind-it-all.

I did find this technique quite tricky as I always stick things a bit wonky. But it was fun trying!

One of my colleagues didn't make it to the end of term celebrations because she had an emergency operation a few days before. We sent her a 'get well' card, but I didn't post her Christmas card as it was quite bulky, so instead, I thought I'd make her a New Year card for when we go back.

This weeks challenge at CD Sunday is 'Teddy Bears'. This image is a decoupage sheet from Docrafts Digital Designer/ Forever Friends Celebrations CD . I decoupaged for 3 layers and added glitter to the fireworks and bubbly.

For this card I used a (previously uninked) frame stamp from Papermania and a Hero Arts monkey stamp. The 'have fun' sentiment is from a set of acrylic stamps (I think by Woodware but I always lose the packaging!)

Friday, 14 December 2012

Aside from a few quick and easys, this is pretty much my last Christmas card! Hooray! I'm looking forward to doing something different. Although as I write this I'm realising I still have gift tags etc to do!

This is another one of the cards for my colleagues. Just as I was making the cards, my colleague commented that she was 'into owls at the moment'. I'm not sure what she meant by that but it was enough to inspire me to make this card for her!

The owls are an A Day for Daisies digi and the background and santa sleigh are from a My Craft Studio CD. I used Hunkydory Snowfall Acetate to make a domed front.

We
had our first snow of the winter last week. I put on my wellies and battled my
way off to work, only to feel a little strangely dressed when I got off the
train to find there was no sign of snow in London! I'm making cards for my team at work. They're all different but I've kept to the same size card blank for all of them and also covered each card with a dome of snowfall acetate. This image is from A Day for Daisies. I used a Marianne die for the circle (shame you can't see the glitter on the paper) and lots of Liquid Pearl.

Sunday, 9 December 2012

It used to be so simple: cute baby + Santa hat = cute photo. Now , after 5 years, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a good photo of my son. Out-takes included funny hand signals, strange grimaces and sticking his finger up his nose to annoy me.

Eventually I managed to get a decent shot. I cut the background out (TV in the background didn't look too festive) and mounted it onto gold.

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Here's another card using the Penny Black wreath stamp. This time I stamped it in Versamark clear ink and brushed over with gold Pearl-ex . Then I stamped again in Ivy Brilliance ink and used the same ink with a little Blade Rubber holly stamp, which I stamped randomly-ish around the wreath. Finally I coloured the berries red.

Monday, 3 December 2012

This week's CD Sunday challenge is Oh Christmas Tree and I searched all my craft CDs for Christmas trees but none inspired me. I decided instead to make an old-fashined scene , featuring a Christmas tree. This room scene is from My Craft Studio Setting the Scene Christmas CD. The mother and child are an A Day for Daisies digistamp that I coloured in , cut out and stuck into the room.

I used the sketch at Christmas Card Challenges. The Christmas tree backing paper is from the same CD and I stamped the sentiment onto the same paper. Finally, I added red glitter glue to the baubles and the sentiment.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

I've been playing around with this stamp , Berry Wreath, from Penny Black. I stamped it three times in Distress Ink - Forest Moss, Bundled Sage and Barn Door. The sentiment is from a Papermania (I think) acrylic set.Finally, I added pearls .

Saturday, 1 December 2012

I was a bit stuck for ideas for the CD Sunday challenge Inspired by Nature, until I was inspired by one of the participants, Sue T .

Sue had used a robin image from La Pashe and had really made the reds stand out by using a blue background. Well, I didn't want to totally copy her in the same challenge(!) but I wanted to think of another way to make the reds the focus of the card.

First I found the image on La Pashe Just Inklined and,using the colour boost tool in My Craft Studio, changed the black lines to a sepia colour. I coloured the image in with Promarkers keeping everything to neutral (from the skin-tone set!) except the red. The music paper was also from the La Pashe Cd.

Yesterday some (usually non-crafting) friends came over to use my stuff to make Christmas cards. Guess who did the least card-making? Yes, me. In fact, I spent most of my time trying to stop my little boy glittering the floor and providing refreshments.

This paper-pieced Santa was the only thing I made and I had to finish it off after they all left. The image is a Stamps Happen rubber stamp.

Thursday, 22 November 2012

I used a decoupage sheet from Papermania Enchanted Christmas CD,and built up 6 layers while watching TV with my little boy. I sprayed it with glitter, but it doesn't show in the photo.

The background papers are also Papermania - Jesse Edwards, Home for Christmas. I do have this set on CD but in fact, these were from a paper pack. I also added another layer with an offcut of snowfall acetate. The sentiment was cut from a freebie paper kit I had hanging around.

As well as CD Sunday, I'd like to enter this for Crimbo Crackers Anything Goes.

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

I'm still playing with my Christmas tree die from Dee Distinctively. It cuts 5 separate triangles, so you can vary the size of the trees depending on how many triangles you use and how you overlap them.

Once again, I used my trusty spotty embossing folder, and also an Echo Park sentiment sticker. I made a dome front using acetate.The acetate is from Hunkydory and is pre-printed and embossed with a snowfall design.

Friday, 16 November 2012

This deer stamp, from Non Sequitur , has been a fixture of my Christmases for about ten years (longer than my partner or son!) - but I can still think of ideas to use him.

For the top card I used Prima 'North Country' papers, a circle die, Memory Box snowflake corner die , silver embossing powder (for the stamp and also randomly sprinkled into white ink on the edges of the background paper) and Glamour Dust. I just wish all my sparkles showed up in the photo!

For the bottom card I used the same stamp and circle die, gold ep, a Sizzix architectural accent,

a Sizzix Tim Holtz embossing folder (Xmas trees) that I then cut out and Kaisercraft papers.

Sunday, 11 November 2012

I think I may have taken a little artistic licence with this week's theme from CD Sunday - Rainy Days. It doesn't look as if this umbrella has ever seen a drop of water!

This image is from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD. I slightly recoloured it in My Craft Studio and printed it onto photo paper. The frame is a Docrafts Triboss embossing folder, embossed on Coredinations card, trimmed down and sanded. The backing paper was free with Making Cards magazine. The sentiment is a Unity stamp and I think it would work as a 'thinking of you' card for someone having a difficult time.

Saturday, 10 November 2012

This chef is a digi-stamp (sorry can't remember who made it - I think I won it in a challenge). On the chef's tray is a cupcake , but I covered it over with a Christmas pudding. The backing paper was free with a magazine - so overall this was a real cheappie to make.

I have a little confession to make - and I hope this doesn't get me expelled from the Less is More challenge. This card is a fake. It is supposed to be a one-layer-card for the challenge 'houses' but in fact it is just a card front.

You see.....my usual technique, when I make a mistake (which I usually do) is to slap another layer over it. But in this challenge, I couldn't do that, so each time I made a mistake I got out another card blank and started again. I soon realised I was going to run out of blanks and started cutting the backs off and using them. So this card is a card that could be a one-layer-card in the hands of someone more efficient.

I sponged lilac Brilliance ink through my favourite Stamposaurus bricks stencil. I stamped the Paper Artsy house, masked it and stamped the Hero Arts dots circles. The sentiment is from Unity stamps. It did say 'enjoy - savor the moment' but I cut off the 'savor' as it's an American spelling and I'm English and I just couldn't do it! (I'm a teacher!) Finally I hand-drew a border round the card.

Friday, 9 November 2012

I've been busy with Christmas cards, but when I saw Papercraft Star's challenge 'Yellow and Grey', I thought I'd join in, as I love this colour combo.

I thought this might be a good card to have put by in case I have to send a card for a not-so-happy occasion.

The flower stamp is by Stampin Up and I stamped it in grey ink onto yellow card. Then I stamped it again, three times, onto pearlescent yellow card, cut the bits out and layered them up. The background is pearly-grey card run through an embossing folder.

Monday, 5 November 2012

All these elements were printed from Papermania Christmas Past CD - Henbury Lane Poinsetta. I decoupaged the main image and added pink gems and glitter glue . As usual the glitter doesn't really show in the photo, so I did a little close up.

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About Me

My life isn’t perfect, but if I squint at it in a certain light, I can make it seem so.....
I am a teacher in a further education college. I live with my partner and we have an 10 year old son. I also have a grown up daughter and two grandsons aged 12 and 6 I have fantastic friends and family. I know I am very , very lucky!